I lift the shirt and shorts and something falls to the floor from his pocket. Leaning down in the dark, I can’t make out what it is, till I pick it up. Jax’s pocket watch. Jackson’s groggy voice speaks, taking me by surprise. I’d thought he was sleeping.
“Can I have that?”
“This?” I hold up the pocket watch, confused at why he has it.
“Yeah.”
“Sure.” I walk to the bed. “But where did you get it from?”
Jackson shrugs his shoulder. “I don’t know, it was in my pocket when I got dressed this morning. Maybe Dad put it in the wrong shorts. My favorite blue shorts are almost the same color as his.”
I lean down and kiss him on the forehead, pulling the covers up.
“I was playing with it in my pocket at school today when the teacher was going around the room and making us stand up and say our name. I might have been a little nervous,” he says, trying to come off casual. So Jax’s son. He reaches up to take the pocket watch. “It’s weird. But it made me feel better. It reminded me of dad and then I thought of watching Uncle Vince on the TV last night, and by the time they got to me, I’d forgotten all about being nervous.”
I hand him the pocket watch and smile watching him fold it into his hand and snuggle back up on his side.
“Night, Baby.”
“Night, Mom.”
Leaning my back against my son’s closed door, I smile and wonder how I ever got so lucky to have had two amazing men in my life. My Dad and Jax. I barely remember telling him the story about my dad and his pocket watch, yet it touched him so much, he remembered and gave that gift to our son. It’s just the kind of man he is. Thoughtful, kind, protective, sexy, and beautiful. A man I took a chance on forgiving so long ago and never looked back. A man worth forgiving, because I could never forget.